BARRY NOREEN: City officials slow to make decisions about new trails at Pikes Peak

It's turning out that going the extra mile on the south slope of Pikes Peak is a heroic effort.

The extra mile actually involves about 14 miles of trails that hiking advocates want to build in the wild area just beyond the foothills at the foot of Pikes Peak. The so-called south slope has been off limits since 1913, when Colorado Springs closed it off to protect its 45,000-acre watershed from fires.

In 1999, the city drafted a multiuse plan that recognized the special quality of a place in our backyard: "an experience that currently does not exist elsewhere in the region: backcountry packing and camping."

But Colorado Springs Utilities, which has avoided getting into the recreation business as the Denver Water Department has, shelved the plan. That frustrated local hiking groups, who continued to pressure city officials until February 2007, when Utilities officials agreed to proceed with a process to allow some trails in the south slope.

Now, about a year after the City Council ordered Utilities to form a panel to work on a trails plan, there is no plan.

When is the earliest a trail could appear on the south slope?

"I really don't have a feel for that," said Scott Campbell, the Utilities employee supervising the committee's work. "I know that's going to be frustrating for folks."

That's an understatement.

Yet committee member Dick Bratton of Green Mountain Falls is upbeat: "Some of us may want to move a little faster, but I think we're making a breakthrough."

Bratton noted that "Utilities has been greatly entrenched in their old ways for a long time."

That's another way of saying our Utilities people are hardly trailblazers.

Mary Burger, a panel member and also a member of the Friends of the Peak group that has built many miles of the Ring the Peak Trail, said there have been no substantive discussions yet about putting trails in the south slope.

"The real hard discussions have been pushed out until November," she said. Burger added that she remains optimistic, but "there is still the chance that after we go through all of this, they'll keep the gate shut."

Keeping the south slope locked up would be stupid. Many cities would love to have such an asset close by; Denver opened its watersheds to recreation long ago.

The 70-mile Ring the Peak Trail is a fine idea, something that can be marketed. Now we just need to finish the job, and the beauty of it is that the land for it is free and the work would be done by volunteers.

A no-brainer, right?

The City Council thinks so. "Nothing's changed," Mayor Lionel Rivera said. "I personally would love to see a trail ringing Pikes Peak."

"They need to make the facilities available," Councilman Larry Small said of Utilities.

You can't blame trails advocates for being leery of Utilities. The city has a track record of foot-dragging when it comes to recreation. It took too long for Utilities to open the peak's north slope after voters ordered it.

Another part of it probably comes from the fact that people like Burger and Bratton are doers who map the trail, get the shovels and dig the trail. For doers, "action plan" is an oxymoron.

So sure, Utilities, study it and make plans. But ultimately, let us build those trails.

It's America's mountain, not yours.

-

Contact Noreen at 636-0363 or noreen@gazette.com. He appears every other Friday on KOAA's Comcast Channel 9 at 4 p.m.